Religion Wrap Up

Branches of Christianity • Roman Catholic (51%) • Protestants (24%) • Orthodox (11%)

Roman Catholic • Roman Catholics accept the teaching of the Bible,

as well as the interpretation of those teachings by the Church hierarchy, headed by the Pope

• According to the Roman Catholic belief, God conveys His grace directly to humanity through seven sacraments

Hierarchy

1) Pope

2) Archbishops

3) Bishops

4) Priests

Protestant • Originated with the principals of the

Reformation in the 16th century • Reformation movement is regarded as

beginning when Martin Luther posted 95 thesis on the door of the church at Wittenberg

• According to Luther, individuals had primary responsibility for achieving personal salvation through direct communication with God

• Grace is achieved through faith rather than through sacraments performed by the church

Orthodox • A collection of 14 self-governing churches

in Eastern Europe and the Middle East • More than 40% of all Orthodox Christians

belong to one of these- Russian Orthodox • Christianity came to Russia in the 10th

century and the Russian Orthodox Church was established in the 16th century

• the Romanian Church, includes 20% of all Eastern Orthodox Christians

14 self-governing churches

1) Russian 11)Constantionaple

2) Romanian 12) Alexandria

3) Bulgarian 13) Antioch

4) Greek 14) Jerusalem

5) Serbian

6) Albania

7) Cyprus

8) Georgia

9) Poland

10) Sinai

Orthodox • Comprises the faith and practices of a

collection of churches that arose in the eastern part of the Roman Empire

• The split between the Roman and Eastern churches dates to the fifth century as a result of a rivalry between the Pope of Rome and the Patriarchy of Constantinople

• Orthodox Christians accepted the seven sacraments but rejected doctrines that the Roman Catholic church had added since the 8th century

Branches of Islam • Sunnis comprise 83% of Muslims and are

the largest branch in most Muslim countries

• The word Sunni comes from the Arabic for “people following the example of Muhammad”

• Shiites comprises 16% of Muslims and make up the majority of those living in Iran

• The word Shiite comes from the Arabic word for “sectarian”

Islam • Differences between the two main

branches go back to the earliest days of Islam and basically reflect disagreement over the line of succession in Islamic leadership

• Muhammad had no surviving son and no follower of comparable leadership ability

• The Muslim population of North America and Europe has increased rapidly in recent years

• France has the largest Muslim population in Europe at about 4 million, a legacy from immigration from predominately Muslim former colonies in North Africa

• Germany has about 3 million that have immigrated primarily from Turkey

Sikhism • Estimated 23 million Sikhs • All but 3 million Sikhs are clustered in the

Punjab region of India • Sikhism’s first guru was Nanak who lived

in present day Pakistan • Sikhs believe God was reveled to Guru

Nanak as the One Supreme Being, or creator, who rules the universe by divine will

Baha'i' • Estimated 7 million Bahia's• Dispersed in many countries, mostly in

Africa and Asia • The Baha'i religion is even more recent

than Sikhism • It grew out of the Babi faith, which was

founded in Shiraz, Iran • Bahia's believe that one of the Babs

disciples was the prophet and messenger of God

Ethnic African Religions • Approximately 100 million Africans. 12 %

of the continents people, follow traditional ethnic religions, sometimes called animism or indigenous

• They believe that such inanimate objects as plants and stones or natural events such as thunderstorms are “animated” or have discrete spirits and conscious life

• Relatively little is known because few holy books or other written documents exists

• They are passed down from one generation to the nest by word of mouth

• The rapid decline in animists in Africa has been caused by increases in the numbers of Christians and Muslims

• Africa is now 46% Christian and 40 % Muslim

Origins • Buddhism goes back 2500 years • Christianity 2000 years • Islam 1500 year

Buddhism Branches • Theravada is the older of the two

branches of Buddhism. Means the “way of the elders”; indicating their belief that they are closer to Buddha's original approach

• Mahayana split from the Theravada about 2,000 years ago. Its translated as “the bigger fairy” or “raft.”

• Mahayanists claim that their approach to Buddhism can help more people because it is less demanding and all-encompassing

Holy Places • Ethnic religions typically has a less

widespread distribution than a universalizing one in part because its holy places derive from the distinctive physical environment of its hearth, such as mountains, rivers or rock formations

• A universalizing religion endows with holiness cities and other places associated with the founders life.

Buddhist Shrines• Eight places are holy to the Buddhist

because they were important in Buddha’s life

• EX. Lumbini in Southern Nepal , where Buddha was born around 563 BC

Islam Holy Places • The holiest places in Islam are associated

with the life of the Prophet Muhammad • The holiest city for Muslims is Mecca, the

birthplace of Muhammad • Mecca contains the holiest object in the

Islamic landscape, the Ka’ba • The Ka’ba is thought to have been built by

Abraham and Ishmael and contains the stone given to Abraham by Gabriel as a sign of the covenant with Ishmael and the Muslim people

Holy Places in Sikhism • Sikhism’s most holy structure, the Darbar

Sahib, or Golden Temple, was built at Amritsar in Punjab by the fifth guru

The Calendar • Universalizing and ethnic religions have

different approaches to the calendar • In ethnic religions its holidays are based

on the distinctive physical geography of the homeland

• In universalizing religions major holidays relate to events in the founders life

Religious Settlements • A utopian settlement is an ideal

community built around a religious way of life

• The culmination of the utopian movement in the United States was the construction of Salt Lake City by the Mormons

Autonomous • Some universalizing religions are highly

automous religions, or self-sufficient, and the interaction among communities is confined to little more than loose cooperation and shared ideas